It may seem tedious, hard, and unnecessary to move these plants, although most gardeners enjoy re-arranging to improve their garden's function and appearance. Most hate trying to move or rip out the mistake of previous owners, mistakes which sometimes then reveal damage. Because these plants are still manageable, this situation can be set right. Once done, you will be again at the point of considering next steps toward the goal of eventually having very little upkeep to handle. You will have lost nothing and gained several benefits: Protection of your home. Healthier plants. Better looking in terms of appropriate rather than crowded spacing. You will still have: Same plants. Screening of windows. And there are psychological and physical benefits: Lowered anxiety about whether the paint job and wood will deteriorate due to those pieris. Spring exercise planting your beautiful shrubs. Self-esteem up because you've gained knowledge and improved something wisely. Yes, you calculated the spacing, but forgot to calculate appropriate distance from building. Also, a shrub doesn't reach a certain number and then say to itself, "I'm 5 feet tall and wide now. I better stop or the shrub police will come and get me." Shrubs are living and, unlike humans, continue to gain height and width throughout their lives. I think the size ranges are estimated for 5 to 10 years?, but the shrubs don't know that and they will keep growing. What's to lose here? Re-planting 3 shrubs? Ah, c'mon! If I lived closer, I'd come by and help! Wellspring

---Ever considered building a graduated retaining wall planter box to level out the brick/block line along the front?--- Everybody in the neighborhood has that, which is a plus / minus. I'm trying to level it a bit bed by bed without having to build the 6" keystone wall stair-step effect. One neighbor has a 6 - 8' high "turret" on the corner of his house. I don't care for it, but I could easily replicate it on my lot :) ---I think one thing that has to be considered is that empty is not always ugly.--- I agree, but I am worried about the transition around the corner - I want full beds that sweep out into the front yard, and I don't want it to look like I forgot one side of my house. Maybe keeping the gate and making the pathway back there more obvious is a better solution. ---I do think your solution, has to match a bit with what is done at the front, if only in terms of the type of plant used--- The corner made with the north side of the porch in the front is also very shady. I think I can stick ^whatever goes in along the north side and grows well^ in that space as well. A big expanse of - nothing - is better than a little row of squared-off evergreen shrubs running down the side of the house to me. I need to get my head out of the tall, skinny, shade-loving rut.

Rosemary probably won't winter over unless you take it inside. They're frost-tender. But they live happily in pots, just don't overwater them, no matter what season it is. As for training it, normally that is done from the very beginning as a small plant, takes a lot of patience. But you can certainly try it, it might be fun! You can expect grapes this year, and you should run out NOW and buy an arbor to train it on. Grapevines grow really, really, fast and get very heavy. Don't use a trellis unless you can anchor it to a strong support wall or with concrete footings. The first wind will blow it over, otherwise. I have used those inexpensive metal arbors with reasonable success by shoving them as deep as possible in the soil and anchoring one side between a tree stump and a stucco wall (it's a neighbor's vine, so I wasn't inclined to spend a lot of money). Otherwise, the best and longest lasting are the cast-iron arbors. Very sturdy and much more attractive. The cheapest ones I've found are at Orchard Supply Hardware ($149), or by mail through Spiegel.com ($129 plus shipping/tax).

I have just purchased my home and cleared out the highly neglected landscaping and need to start over. I have no idea where to start. I would like a flowering tree on the left between the windows that won't get too big. I wanted a pink dogwood tree but was told by my local nursery that they don't grow well here. I'm completely confused about what to do to the right where the Camillia tree and lamppost are. Any advice would be greatly appreciated